The D-12 was the first-ever electric toaster to be
released commercially by GE in the early 1900s. Atop a ceramic
base with floral embellishments, bread was placed along metal
baskets surrounding a heated alloy of nickel and chromium
called nichrome.

When a young schoolboy named Antonio Gentile entered his sketch
as part of a logo contest held by Planters in 1916, the company’s
now-iconic mascot was born. A commercial artist later
added its top hat, monocle and cane.

Having grown up on a farm, Henry Ford began building experimental tractors in 1907. In 1920,
his tractor venture, Fordson, merged with the Ford Motor
Company, which continued using the Fordson name until 1964.

A single storefront in the 1880s spawned the long-lived and
much-beloved retail chain, which was eventually acquired by
the Target Corporation in 1990 and subsequently folded into
Macy’s in 2005.

In 1998, to maximize search capacity in the cheapest way
possible, Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin built
thirty racks of servers that incorporated corkboard as insulation pads.